


Notes to The Bhadra Trilogy

by quercus



Series: The Bhadra Trilogy [4]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-07-07
Updated: 2002-07-07
Packaged: 2017-10-05 02:15:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/36688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quercus/pseuds/quercus





	Notes to The Bhadra Trilogy

I had no intention of writing a trilogy when I started out. _Fossil Water_ was such a pleasure to write though -- the only story I've ever written during which I had a big ol' grin on my face the entire time. And then I fell in love with the planet I'd created, Bhadra, and especially with the city of Harishdadiv. I'm still crazy about the place. I want to move there and work with Praaba at the winery. Alas. Only in my dreams and in my writing.

The second story, _Unsatisfied Desires_, came about because I'd been wanting to write a story about Jack and Daniel back on Abydos. That was actually next up, but then I got an idea about them asking Suryodaya for help with a pumping station. I realized I could conflate the two ideas -- who needs a better water supply more than Nagada does? -- and there you go. _Unsatisfied Desires_ was born.

By the way, I fucking _hated_ killing Suryodaya. I loved Suryodaya. But she had to go. Who said you have to be a sadist to be a writer? I guess it's true, but man. That was rough.

I read the novelization of the movie _Stargate_ for background information on Abydos, including the name of Kasuf's city, Nagada. Despite the many typos and some less-than-stellar writing, I really enjoyed it, not least because the Daniel Jackson in the book was such a snarky guy, yet just as loyal and sweet as I imagine him to be. I recommend it as basic reading for anyone who wants to write about Abydos.

_The Cloud Messenger_ came about because I was so saddened by the ending of _Unsatisfied Desires_. Even the title makes me sad. I don't want Jack and Daniel to be unsatisfied; I want them to be happy. Not an easy task, I have to admit, but very worth the effort.

The culture of Bhadra is to a certain extent based on Buddhist principles. I also wanted to play with the notion of a Buddhist-like culture evolving on a resource-poor planet without the overpopulation of earth. (The planet Bhadra is an adaptation of Mars. Too many years reading Ray Bradbury and Kim Stanley Robinson, I suppose.)

The language of Bhadra is adapted from Sanskrit and Pali. It's kind of cheating, to have an entire world speak the same language, but I was hoping that, since the inhabitants had fairly recently come from another world, different languages wouldn't have had time to evolve. I imagined different dialects in different cities, though, like the differences among American, UK, Australian, and Indian Englishes.

The back story I told myself about the inhabitants of Bhadra is that their ancestors were taken by the Goa'uld from earth, from somewhere in northern India or Tibet, but that some of them discovered the stargate address to Bhadra. I can imagine their ancestors sending the best and the brightest through the gate to escape the predations of the Goa'uld.

There really is a story called "Meghaduta," or "The Cloud Messenger," by Kalidasa. The story that Kundunbigala-bik told Daniel is based on the translation you can find at [here](http://www.ocasopress.com/meghaduta.html).

Because someone was kind enough (and foolish enough) to ask, I'm including a bit about the chant the Elders of Harishdadiv perform, and in which the members of SG-1 participate. It is taken from the Buddha's famous and very beautiful Heart Sutra. I used a translation I found at The Heart Sutra Home Page, which unfortunately no longer exists. See [Wikipedia's entry on the Heart Sutra](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_Sutra). In _The Cloud Messenger_, the inhabitants of Bhadra, and especially of Harishdadiv, accept that death is part of life, and life is part of death -- that, in the words of the Heart Sutra, "that which is form is emptiness, that which is emptiness form."

Finally, I took out a bit of my story that I just loved. It's near the very end, when Daniel recites a poem to Jack. Originally, I had Jack respond in kind. Unfortunately, two of my betas doubted he'd do that, and I had my doubts as well. But I love Jack's poem so much that I'm going to share it with you whether you want it or not. Both Daniel's and Jack's poems are real love poems from the Sanskrit; I found them in _Sanskrit Love Poetry_, translated by W. S. Merwin and J. Moussaieff Masson (Columbia University Press, NY: 1977). Lots of good stuff there.

~ ~ ~

When Jack looked back, Daniel was smiling fondly at him, and Jack knew his prevarications were for naught. He rolled his eyes, pretending exasperation, but in fact pleased by how well he was known.

"What was that French poem you were saying earlier?" he asked, changing the subject. Daniel smiled even more.

"I have a better poem for you. More fitting to the circumstances."

"Well? You gonna tell me?"

"Yes. Um, yes, I will." He took another sip of champagne, and sat up straighter, looking carefully into Jack's face. "It's from the Sanskrit. Very old."

"Perfect for me," Jack muttered, and Daniel gave him a look.

"As I was saying, very old. But given that we're drinking fossil water from ceramic mugs, I think it works." He hesitated, and then said very quietly, "It also fits how I feel about you."

Jack felt himself color again, and damned his Celtic heritage. He smiled at Daniel. "Can't wait."

Daniel paused for nearly a minute, turning the glass around his hand, studying the slope of the gleaming effervescent liquid inside. Finally he raised his head and said softly to Jack:

"When he comes back  
to my arms

I'll make him feel  
what nobody ever felt

everywhere  
me

vanishing into him

like water  
into the clay of a new jar."

Jack was stunned, with pleasure and fear. That was exactly right, exactly how he felt, that he would vanish into Daniel, be absorbed by him. That he _wanted_ to be absorbed by him, in a way he never had by any lover. Each time they parted, the universe might choose to separate them forever. God had been very cruel to him, Jack thought: He had taken his son, his wife, even Daniel for a while. Eventually He would take Jack, too, or Daniel permanently. If he were absorbed by Daniel, if he could absorb Daniel, then at least there would be something left. Something to remember.

He was silent before Daniel's wisdom. The cloud messenger, he remembered, who would take the lover's message and bear it like rain across continents and oceans. Who would take his message to Daniel, so far from him? Separated by regulations, by custom, by fears. Sometimes separated by a good piece of the galaxy. By wormhole and by ship, by stargates and transporter rings and the evil that lives in the universe.

It didn't rain on Bhadra. There were no clouds to act as messengers here. Daniel had said the cloud messenger was a metaphor, and Jack understood, at that moment, what he'd meant. There were no clouds here, no messengers to carry his love to Daniel. He had to do that himself.

He leaned across the table and grabbed another bottle of wine, pouring a little in each of their glasses. Daniel looked shy and concerned, obviously worried his poem hadn't been received as he'd hoped. Jack smiled at him, tears blurring his vision.

"I, uh, I actually know a poem," he finally said. He set down the wine glass and pulled out his wallet, flipping through it until he found the creased scrap he'd written it out on, months earlier, when they'd first returned from Bhadra.

"Um," Daniel said, looking concerned.

"Yeah, yeah, way outta character, I know. But I was looking through one of your books. You, uh, left it in the bathroom."

"The reading room."

"So they call it. Anyway. Found this. Thought I'd, you know, save it for something. So maybe now."

He unfolded the paper, soft from being carried for so long, and read it to himself. Not too sappy, although definitely not his usual line of bullshit. Still. He rubbed his neck, and said, "You ready?"

"Breathless with anticipation."

"Asshole."

"You should know."

"Daniel!" He glanced around him, but it was noisy and nobody was paying them the slightest bit of attention. "Anyway. Here goes.

Living here  
far away  
I am yours  
living there  
far away  
you are mine  
love is not made

of bodies only  
deep in the hearts  
is where we are one."

Despite the noise around them, Jack felt sunk in silence. The sense of being the still point in a whirling centrifuge came on him again. Without looking at Daniel, he knew he was moved, profoundly moved. Jack actually was pretty moved himself, he admitted. He tapped the paper twice, and then finally looked up.

"Thank you," Daniel whispered, and Jack nodded. They sat for a few seconds more, and then Skaara returned, scolding Daniel for drinking more, and Evu came, bearing a platter of the cheese and onions Jack loved, and then Hammond leaned over his shoulder to talk about Suryodaya's wish to have liaisons from earth here, and then he was separated from Daniel, across the noisy room, strangers and friends intervening, parting but never severing them. Hours later, exhausted and sweaty, Jack took a gulp of water, fossil water, he realized.

Like water into the clay of a new jar, he thought, and smiled to himself. He couldn't see Daniel, but he felt his presence, just as he had during the ritual. Maybe tonight they could visit the stoom, get away from all this. But right now, it was okay.

It was okay.

* * *


End file.
